Experts Urge Obama to Rethink Iran Policy

WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama must rethink U.S. policy toward Iran, eschewing confrontation and failed attempts to isolate Tehran through sanctions, according to a group of experts and former diplomats.

Tackling Iran's nuclear ambitions will be one of Obama's main foreign policy challenges after he takes office on Jan. 20. He has said he would harden sanctions but also has held out the possibility of direct talks.

The panel of 20 experts, who include academics and former U.S. ambassadors, warned against a military attack on Iran and called for unconditional negotiations, saying it is the only viable option to break "a cycle of threats and defiance."

"An attack would almost certainly backfire . . . and long experience has shown that prospects for successfully coercing Iran through achievable economic sanctions are remote at best," they said in a joint statement to be presented to a conference on the future of U.S.-Iran relations next week.

The panel includes former U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan James Dobbins, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Thomas Pickering, and a host of Middle East scholars from U.S. universities.

The United States cut diplomatic ties with Iran after its Islamic Revolution and is spearheading a drive to isolate the country because of its nuclear activities. Washington accuses Iran of seeking to build a nuclear bomb, a charge Tehran denies.

President George W. Bush labeled Iran part of an "axis of evil," although U.S. officials recently floated the idea of opening a diplomatic interests section in Tehran.

Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, congratulated Obama on his election last week and called for "fundamental and fair" changes to U.S. policies in the Middle East. Iranian officials also have called for lifting sanctions.

An Obama administration needed to develop a new strategy to deal with Iran, according to the experts' statement, to be presented to the National Iranian American Council, which describes itself as a nonpartisan organization.

"Open the door to direct, unconditional and comprehensive negotiations at the senior diplomatic level where personal contacts can be developed, intentions tested, and possibilities explored on both sides," they said.

They called on the United States to replace calls for regime change with a long-term strategy, allow Iran a "place at the table" in shaping the future of Iraq and Afghanistan, offer security assurances in the nuclear talks and re-energize the Arab-Israeli peace process.

WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama must rethink U.S. policy toward Iran, eschewing confrontation and failed attempts to isolate Tehran through sanctions, according to a group of experts and former diplomats.Tackling Iran's nuclear ambitions will be one of Obama's...